Door construction



Apr-il 30, 1946. D. c. CRAWFORD- DOOR CONSTRUCTION Filed Dec. 18, 1944 Patented Apr. 30, .1946

noon CONSTRUCTION David C. Crawford, Detroit, Mich., assigner to. Crawford Door Company, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application December. 18, 1944, Serial No. 568,641

6 Claims. (v Cl. 20-35) This invention relates to door constructions especially adapted for upward acting doors of the tilting type.

Specically, the invention relates to a doorway closure construction wherein a pair of identical door sections are held together to form a onepiece closure by means of door hardware having tangs, lugs, or other projections seated in longitudinal grooves formed in the stiles of the door sections and abutting the rails of the door sections to carry the load of the closure.

Inaccordance with this invention, the end stiles of a door are formed with longitudinally extending grooves in their outer edges. The rails of the door extend into flush relation vwith the outer edges of the stiles and thus automatically form ends or abutments for the grooves. One rail of each door is formed with a double male and female joint surface to mate with an identically formed surface on the rail of another door. Mateddoors are held together by means of door hardware which includes lugs or tangs extending into the grooves of the stiles in abutting relation with the rails which form the kends of the grooves. This door hardware is preferably in the form of two channel strips each having side legs overlying the inner and outer faces of the doors and a connecting web with inturned tangs projecting into the grooves of the stiles,l and abutting the rails. Thisrconnecting web also has holes for receiving Vfasteners such as screws, nails or the like which are driven into the stiles thereby connecting the channel strips to the edges of the door, and forming a one-piece closure member from a pair of doors.

The doors preferably have panels seated in grooves formed in the inner edges of the rails and stiles. Since the tang-receiving grooves of the stiles are in the outer edges of the stiles, both the panel-receiving grooves and the tang-receiving grooves can be simultaneously cut in the stiles. y l

An object of this invention is to provide a closure for upward acting door constructions wherein a minimum number of vparts are used.

A further object of the invention is to provide a closure composed of secured-together identical doors having mating double male and female surfaces on adjoining rails thereof.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a closure composed of a pair of'identical doors having longitudinally grooved outer stiles with rails forming abutments in thegrcoves and receiving loadLcarrying' projections of door hard-f ware whichholds the doors in mated relationship.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a closure for tilting type upward acting doors which has longitudinally grooved stiles for receiving upward acting door hardware.

Other and further objects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description of the annexed sheetA of drawings which, by way of preferred example, illustrates one embodiment of the invention.

On the drawing:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of a closure or door according to this invention.

Figure 2 is av longitudinal view of one of the channel strips of the door of Figure 1. i

Figure 3 is a fragmentary enlarged vertical cross-sectional View taken along the line III-III of Figure 1.

Figure Ll'is an enlarged elevational view, with parts broken away and shownin vertical cross section, of a portion of the closure construction of Figure 1.

`Figure 5 is a horizontal crossfsectional view taken along the line V-V of Figure e. f

As shown on the drawing:

As shown in Figure 1, the closure It is composed of two identical -doors II, Il, held in superimposed relation by metal channel strips I2, I2. The doors II have rails I3, I3 in mated abutting relation. A rail I4 for the Vupper door II forms the top rail for the closure Ill. A rail Ill for the bottom door I I forms the bottom rail for the closure. End stiles I5, I5 are disposed between and ripheral edges of the panels I6 as is customary' in panel door construction.

As best shown in Figures l and 5, the rails I5 of each door II have longitudinal grooves I9 in thereof and, since one groove is necessary for the panels I6, the other groove I9 can be formed at no extra cost.

The rails I3 and I4 of each door II extend flush with the outer edges of the stiles I5 and thus provide abutments or end walls for the grooves I9. As illustrated in Figure 4, the rails I3, I 3 provide end Walls vor abutments 13a for the grooves I9 and, as illustrated in Figure 1, the rails I4 provide end walls or abutments Ma for the other ends of the grooves.

As best shown in Figure 3, the rails I3 of eachY door II, I I having mating ends provided With'a' double male and female groove to providean in? teriitting lock for holding the doors inqaligned relationship along their entire widths. Thus eachv rail I3 has a at end portion |327, a groove |30 extending inwardly from the 'flat tend '|1312 andv having a rounded bottom merging into asloping Wall which extends beyond the flat portion 13b 20 to form a tongue I3d. This tongue has a rounded end with a straight side Wall opposite the sloping side wall thereof, and this'straight' sidewall terminates at a ilat end-portion'l3e level with the end portion |31?. Since these end surfaces of 25 the rails I3, I3 are identical, the doors are placed in superimposed relationship and the tongue I3d` of one door rail I3 Willfit in the groove 13e of the other door rail I3'thus'formingav double male and female joint arrangement providing an interlock along .the entrewidth of the door.

Each metal strip I2 has flanges or legs IZd, ,Ia for overlying the inner and outer faces of the stiles I5, and a connecting web or base portion .I2bfor overlying the outer" edges ofv these stiles I5. `As shown in Figure 1, the channel strips I2, I2.ex tend from the top to the bottom of the closure.

The connecting web I2b of each channel strip has a plurality of inturned tangs cut from metal of the Web and bent inwardly to provide vertical lugs. These tangs 2i) are so positioned on the Web I2b as to extend into the rail grooves I9 as best shown in Figures land 5. In addition, as best shown in Figures l and 4, the tangs 20 are so positioned along the length of the strips l2 as to ,4 5

thrust against the abutting surfaces i3d and Ida of the rails I3 and I4 at the end of the grooves I 9.

The thrusting contact between the tangs and the rails in the stile grooves i9 not only serves to properly align the channel strips on the closure V I0, but also serves to transfer the load or Weight of the door to the channel strips and these vchan nel strips, in turn, mount the door in a doorway on hardware (not shown).

The channel strips I2 have holes'ZI at spaced intervals along the lengths thereof as shown in Figure 2, and these holes receive screws or other fasteners 22 as best shown in Figure 4. The screws are driven intothe rails-I5 to connect the channel strips to the door. VObviously nails, or other types of fasteners, could beused because these fasteners do not carry -the vWeight l-of the door, and only function to attach the strips to the door.

face kon 'theabtting rail of' each .'door.

From the above descriptions it should-be under# It will, of course, be understood that various details of construction maybe varied through a Wide range Without departing from the principles of this invention and it is, therefore, not the purpose to limit the patent granted hereon otherwise than necessitated by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

l. A closure comprising a pair of doors in superimposed relation having abutting rails with ,intertted tongues and grooves, said doors having longitudinal grooves in the stiles thereof, and the vrailsof the doors extending across said grooves lin the stiles to form abutment surfaces, channel strips havingv legs Yoverlying the inner and outer -faces ofthe superimposed doors together With Webs overlying the edges of said doors, said webs having inturned'tangs extending into the grooves of theA stiles in thrusting engagement with the abutment surfaces of said rails, and fasteners connecting the channel strips to the doors.

2. A closure comprising a pair of identical Wooden doors in superimposed relationship, each of said doors having stiles with longitudinal grooves extending along the entire lengths thereof in the outer edge surfaces thereof, each of said doors having rails at the tops and bottoms thereof connected to said stiles and extending iiush with the outer ends of the stiles to form abutment surfaces for the grooves, strips securing said doors in superimposed relationship with adjoining rails in tight abutting relation, said strips having-projections thereon extending into said grooves in abutting relation with the abutment Surfaces of the rails for transferring the Weight of the closures to thestrips and for holding the doors in tight abutted together relation, and fasteners connecting the strips to the doors.

3.:A closure comprising a rst door having a bottom rail, a top rail, and a pair of stiles interposed between the rails, each of said stiles having a longitudinal groove on the outer edge thereof, said top rail having a top surface with an adjacent tongueV and groove extending along the length -of the rail, a second door having a bottom rail'with an 'adjacent tongue andgroove in mated intertting relation with the tongue and groove of the top rail of the first door, a top rail on said second'door, stiles on said second door interposed between said bottom Aand top rails of the second door, said stiles on said second door having longi tudinal grooves in the outer edges thereof yterminating at said bottom and top rails, metal channel strips having legs extending from the top to the bottomv of the closure and embracing the inner and outer faces of the stiles of both doors together with a connecting web covering the outer'edges of the rails and stiles of both doors,l said web having inturned tangs extending into the grooves of the stiles and positioned to abut the rails, and fasteners extending through said Webs ofthe channel strips for uniting the channel strips to the doors.

MI 41 .A door construction comprising .a plurality of door members having intertted abutting rails and longitudinally'grooved stiles, said rails extending ,across the ends of the grooves to provide abutment surfaces, connecting strips extending from the top to the bottom of the closure having projections'seated in said grooves inabuttingl relation with the abutment surfaces of the rails, 'and fasteners securing the strips to the closure. K

vifirnclosure rnember'comprising a door having Iongitudinally grooved end stilesand top andbot` tom rails extending across the grooves of said end Stiles to provide abutment surfaces, and door supporting hardware having projections seated in said grooves in thrusting relation with said abutment surfaces of the rails to carry the Weight of the door.

6. A closure comprising a pair of aligned doors having adjoining edges in edge to edge relation, said doors having grooved outer edges at the ends of said adjoining edges in angular relation thereto, abutments in said grooves, and a strip secured on said doors having projections seated in said grooves in thrusting relation with said abutments.

DAVID C. CRAWFORD. 

